Ask a Simple Question Get a Simple Answer - RU Edition

You definitely want to be running 160 HP, as then you can activate your pinch berry after 1 BD and a substitute, which won't work if you have 162 HP. IIRC, 236 ev's should be enough to reach 160 HP, as you now need 8 ev's to get +1 in a stat.

I'm just getting into RU. I've been looking through the tier and reading through some threads (need more of this), and I think I want to use a Sun team (despite my name, I would prefer to not use hail) with CB Entei, Cinccino, Cryogonal, SubCM Uxie, a Grass-type Sunny Day user and a hazard setter Nidoqueen. Is there anything glaringly wrong with this team? In addition, would Sigilyph or Cresselia be a better CM user than Uxie? Uxie only really jumped out at me because of DPP UU experience and I really have no idea if something else would be better (I'd prefer to avoid Thunder Waves though).
EDIT: After further research I think I need a solid Cresselia check (252/0 Cress has a slight chance to live through a Sun-boosted Entei Flare Blitz even after SR...). I'm still trying to figure this out :\

I'm just getting into RU. I've been looking through the tier and reading through some threads (need more of this), and I think I want to use a Sun team (despite my name, I would prefer to not use hail) with CB Entei, Cinccino, Cryogonal, SubCM Uxie, a Grass-type Sunny Day user and a hazard setter Nidoqueen. Is there anything glaringly wrong with this team? In addition, would Sigilyph or Cresselia be a better CM user than Uxie? Uxie only really jumped out at me because of DPP UU experience and I really have no idea if something else would be better (I'd prefer to avoid Thunder Waves though).

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First of all, cool points for getting into the best tier =] What immediately troubles me with such a team is that powerful Fire-types such as Entei and Moltres can come in on your Cryogonal and possibly Cryogonal / (unboosted) Uxie and safely net a KO with their STAB. Opting out Cryogonal for Kabutops might ease this to a degree, and though it does get hampered by Sun your team appears to be more of a balanced team utilizing a self-sufficient Sun sweeper anywho that shouldn't be too problematic. Your team also seems to have no particularly solid answer to Cresselia, who can just sit there and take everything your team can throw at it bar CB Flare Blitz's and cripple everything with TWave or set up CM's. I would suggest playing around with Escavalier or Drapion in Cincinno's slot, as it really doesn't seem to be doing much for the rest of the team (as much as I love him, Cincinno really wants lots of dedicated support to play well :[ ). Also, I should point out that using an entirely defensive Nidoqueen is a horrid waste of incredible offensive potential, and that if you're not already I would suggest using a more offensive spread (88 HP / 252 SpA / 168 Spe w/Modest is my usual go-to) with Life Orb and a moveset of SR | Earth Power | Fire Blast | TBolt. It can still take hits quite well by merit of it's natural bulk, and can maintain offensive momentum and still do things after setting hazards.

As for the case of Uxie, it isn't necessarily "outclassed" as a CM user by Cress or Sigilyph, but it is important to keep in mind why you would want to use it over either. It's mono-Psychic typing and better natural bulk help it distinguish itself from Sigilyph, granting it more ease in coming in and setting up, and thus making it less vulnerable to Blizzspam and being smashed trying to switch into the likes of Nidoqueen. As for Cress, the two mains perks Uxie has over it are A.Speed (the difference from 85 to 95 is the difference between possibly being outsped by Rotom-A, Rotom, MANsir, Zangoose, etc., as well as losing the chance to speed tie 'mons such as Drapion and Jynx) and B.Surprise value. Access to Thunderbolt is nice as well, since it offers good overall neutral coverage, but is generally not worth running Uxie over Cress for.

Wow, that was way more comprehensive than I thought it would be! Looking at the team, it's even more weak to Fire than it was in that post (decided to use Durant as an anti-Cress 'mon), so Kabutops is worth checking out as a check to Fire-types, Rain teams and maybe Tauros. I took your Nidoqueen set with Ice Beam over Thunderbolt and it's been working well. As for Uxie, I've found that I rather like the Speed it offers over Cresselia.

Pokemon from 3rd Gen when transferred over to 4th Gen may change ability while evolving, if the ability did not exist in the previous generation. Meaning if you evolve a clefairy from 3rd gen it can have stoss in 4th gen with magic guard.

Hey guys, I've recently got into Ru and it is a really fun tier. (Besides the long ass times to get a battle because the tier is so unpopular) I've recently put my own spin on a very successful team in the tier,(not many people know about it) and possibly make it even better than it once was. I found out from the beginning that this team had one horrible weakness, that anyone with this particular pokemon can exploit. The first priority in my mind was to get a standard defensive core now here's my question. What is the bread and butter, dead standard, defensive core in this tier?????? all suggestions from the smogon brains will be appreciated.

The first thing that comes to mind is "TanKing" - that is, Tangrowth on the physical side and Slowking on the special. Not many Pokemon can beat that - Galvantula, maybe, or Scolipede, but not much else.

P.S. RU isn't as centralised as the higher tiers, so "standard" cores aren't that common.

Tangrowth and Slowking get destroyed by Nidoqueen and the more offensive teams nowadays, though it's still a really solid core. Another solid defensive core is Poliwrath + Roselia or another special wall. Poliwrath walls a huge amount of physical attackers in RU while Roselia can take care of Grass-types such as Sceptile that threaten Poliwrath.

RU Co-Leader

Is Mystic Water and acceptable alternative to Life Orb on a GATR TIME Feraligatr? He has such good natural bulk, it'd be a shame to waste it.

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I'd say yes, it would be a good alternative. I dont find myself using Return/Crunch nearly as often as my water STABs, usually only using them to hit Poliwrath, Grass-types on the switch or Qwilfish (or slowking in the case of crunch). Mystic water boosts the power of Gatr's STAB attacks almost as much as life orb, while not coming with that nasty recoil damage. Also, if you manage to get to +2 and get into torrent range, your opponent is in big trouble, if you use Life Orb, your on a timer, minimizing the amount of damage you can do if you hit that sweetspot. Lum Berry is also a good option on Feraligatr, you lose a bit of power, but it becomes much easier to set up against the various defensive Pokemon in RU without fearing a crippling status move cutting your sweep short.

It's definetly worth it. Flamethrower is boosted by Sheer Force and hits physically defensive behemoths such as Steelix and Tangrowth far harder than Fire Punch. The lack of LO recoil is very valuable to Druddigon, who appreiates its bulk. It's also Druddigon's best option against Ferroseed and Escavalier, who can normally switch in on Druddigon with little to fear. I'd recommend a set of Outrage, Sucker Punch, Flamethrower and Earthquake/Stealth Rock

It's a fantastic Steelix lure and partners extremely well with Hone Claws Durant who appreciates one of its better counters being taken out. It can also beat walls like Poliwrath, another prominent Durant counter, and Uxie if needed to without resorting to Outrage or suffering LO recoil.

A friend of mine has recently received a perfect Serene Grace Saskbuck and wants to know how to make the best of it.
We don't know; the combination seems close to failtastic. Shadow Ball? Energy Ball? Bounce? Ok, the latter option is probably half-decent when it can force opposite grass mons to switch, but is there more?

We don't need an evaluation of why the regular abilities are so much better, but thanks.

A friend of mine has recently received a perfect Serene Grace Saskbuck and wants to know how to make the best of it.
We don't know; the combination seems close to failtastic. Shadow Ball? Energy Ball? Bounce? Ok, the latter option is probably half-decent when it can force opposite grass mons to switch, but is there more?

We don't need an evaluation of why the regular abilities are so much better, but thanks.

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Sawsbuck's only moves effected by Serence Grace are Energy Ball, Shadow Ball, Rock Smash, Snore, and Bounce. Sadly, Serence Grace Sawsbuck is not something that can be utiziled effectively because there is little it can do with its four moves, and three of them are special moves, which do little to nothing with Sawsbuck's bad special attack, Rock Smash is pitifully weak, and Bounce is weaker than a STAB Double-Edge even if it is super effective. I'd say that it wouldn't be worth trying to use any of these moves, though getting perfect EVs could be useful. Going with a simple Swords Dancer is likely the best option even if you have Serence Grace.

I've been looking at Crygononal and this thing looks like it has potential, but it seems a few things stands in its way. First is its frail defense stat, and second its typing (ice) doesn't do much for it defensively either. Now it's awful offensive movepool makes it a bad candidate for a special sweeper, so that's off the table. So Cryogonal's weaknesses are:
-Anything that hits for a decent amount of physical damage
-Stealth Rock weakness
-Can't really pull off an attack

But Cryogonal does have its fantastic special defense, decent speed, not awful HP, and respectable Special Attack. But, what really drew my attention to it is its movepool. It has quirky moves but they're respectably good.

Namely it has Rapid Spin, Recover, Reflect and Light Screen, Haze, Acid Armor and - wait for it - Bind.

Now, while I think it can pull off a good Dual Screening as long as it switches on a choice-Ground attack, or switch into a special attacker (especially if its an ice-beam), so setting it up with Screens and Recover and maybe Ice Beam looks usable.

Rapid Spin is also a nice addition in removing Stealth Rock/Spikes. In addition its levitate lets it switch into spikes/toxic spikes (unfortunately stealth rock will still chunk out its health... but at least it has Recover).

But now, Bind, has the secondary effect of trapping. This is more of a gimmick than anything but imagine trapping a special attacker for 4-5 turns and using that time to set up Acid Armor stacks, Light Screens, Rapid Spin-ing, and stopping opponents from setting up via Haze while being drained away via Toxic (or maybe even hail).

Does anyone else see potential in Cryogonal? Is this just completely unusable due to its typing and awful defenses?

Hi, for future reference this sort of question would be best put in the Simple Questions thread, where I'm sure that veteran players of the tier will be able to answer your questions for you =) However, since its been done, Cryogonal is a very viable Pokemon in the tier right now, being arguably the most effective defensive Rapid Spin user in the tier, having an immunity to Spikes and Toxic Spikes, reliably recovery in Recover, and respectable special bulk. These attributes allow it to succesfully beat Pokemon such as Rotom 1v1, and while it is vulnerable to physically-based Ghost-types such as Choice Band Spiritomb, it can be EV'ed to survive its attacks in spite of its lower Defense stat. Its Ice typing, while being generally bad defensively, allow it to take on Blizzards from hail teams extremely well, as well as being immune to hail damage. That being said, Cryogonal is a very viable Pokemon in the RU metagame, as long as you take into account its weaknesses and play to its strengths :)